Here's a collection of vero (stripboard) and tagboard guitar and bass effect layouts that we have put together covering many classic and popular effects in growing numbers. Many of these have been posted on freestompboxes.org, so check that site out for great discussions on building your own effect pedals. Enjoy the builds and please also visit us on Facebook and Twitter

86 comments:

Being a rookie in this DIY field I need some help with the connections to the pots and jacks etc.Soldering the components to the board is no problem but I don't quite understand where the cables from the board goes. For instance, what does "Bass 1" mean? And why is there no "Bass 3"? Can anybody please help explain this.ThanxPeter

Hi!Built this one, and it sounds great from clean boost to nice and smooth overdrive and even fuzzy tones with drive full and playing with bass and tone from zero to max through my Tele and a Bassman.What is the boost side of the original Amp 11? I'll probably try with the SHO.Thanks for the great layouts!

The boost side is a COT50, but to be honest I'd probably go for a SHO too. Glad you're pleased with the results, if you have a chance take a few pics of the guts and post me the links please, I like to keep a collection of pics of verified builds that people have done. Cheers

Thanks for the great resource(s)! In looking at your layout and then the schematic at FSB (by Whitekeyhole), it looks like yours differs in the power filtering portion. Any particular reason for that? Thanks!

You're very welcome. Yes, whitekeyhole did the schematic verbatim, this is my interpretation of what matters (IMO). Sean puts a 100n cap in parallel with the main 47uF filter cap all the time because in some instances it helps deal with noise from higher frequencies. It doesn't make any difference at all in 9V effects so Lovepedal waste a lot of 100n caps.

I don't include a reverse polarity protection diode most of the time because most people use a daisy chained regulated power supply and I feel it is unlikely that anyone is going to plug a positive ground supply into this negative ground effect. I will include it sometimes if the space presents itself, but I won't increase the board size specifically to do it unless someone wants me to.

The 100n after the current limiting resistor to vbias is extra filtering which is of no benefit in a low voltage circuit, and the less said about the 47u before AND after the current limiting resistor, the better.

I will say that by omitting the current limiting resistor and diode, my layout will be running at a slightly higher voltage that an original and so may have slightly more headroom.

I'll be happy to do another layout which adds a few extra columns and make it a complete match if someone would like it. I just think (for me at least) it would be additional soldering and components for no audible benefit.

this is seriously verified? I get basically no response out of the drive pot. ive rebuilt the circuit twice already. compared it to the timmy, looked it over with the schematic.. i dont get it. is this just a ridiculously transparent pedal or what?

no, no its fine. im an idiot. i have a container of ceramics and picked one with 104 on it, without thinking and threw it in there. suffice to say it was .1uf. really crying for all my wasted time. found a 101 in my box after some digging and works fine. lol

The output cap would be negative to Volume 3. Not sure about the other cap which goes from the Bass control to the 4.5V rail. The best bet in cases like this is to build it up with everything in place except that 1u, power it up and then with your multimeter measure the voltage at both points the cap will be connected. Connect the negative leg to the lowest voltage.

Got the pedal up and running today. After doing some trouble shooting, I noticed that there's a difference between the schematic by whitekeyhole found here: http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7q1BYMkCQGo/TxSQo9uzsHI/AAAAAAAAAkY/xROmSX0_eLs/s1600/AEL.png and the Vero

Hopefully this will make sense: in the vero, Drive 2 and Drive 3 are connected by a 3k3 resistor which isn't in the scheme. Then, in the scheme, R5 connects that one lug of the drive pot to pin 6 of the opamp. Yet in the vero, there's a direct path from Drive 3 to the equivalent lug in of the opamp (I figured out that some of the orientations are labled differnetly).

Does that make sense? Am I missing something? I probably am since I'm still making noob mistakes. If so, my bad. But if there is an error, I wanted to mention it. I feel like w/ my build, there's a little more gain than in the demos and I'm wondering of that might be caused by that 3k3 not being in the path to the opamp (in the vero)

Yes if you look at both pot setups, they're both doing the same thing. With the final whitekeyhole schematic, in the counter clockwise position lugs 1 and 2 are connected and so because of the link between 2 and 3 it effectively bypasses the pot completely. So this is the minimum gain setting with only the 3K3 between the inverting input and the output. With the way it's done in my layout (same as the Timmy), the inverting input connects to lug 3, the output to lug 1 and the 3K3 connects between lug 2 and 3. So in the counter clockwise position the 3K3 is effectively connected directly between pins 1 and 3 putting the resistor in parallel with the pot and so giving you a total resistance of just under 3K3 which is the low gain setting. In both cases the high gain clockwise setting puts the full pot value between the inverting input and output.

It really wouldn't be worth modding because the results would be the same, but if you really wanted it to line up with the schematic, then you'd connect pin 1 of the IC to lugs 2 and 3, and lug 1 would connect after the 3K3 resistor where lug 2 is shown in the layout.

I used this for my gig last night and it rocked! I barely touched any of my other pedals all night, and a lot of the time, found myself leaving it on and using my guitar's volume to get the proper amount of distortion out of it. I'm curious about using this as a bass overdrive. I hooked it up to a bass and bass amp today but it didn't distort at all. It only passed clean signal through when on or off. From what I've read, I'm thinking all I'd have to do is change the input and output caps. Does that sound right? I'm all for experimenting, but if someone has an answer before I start throwing parts around, that would be much easier. Thanks in advance.

Weird, I built this one and the4 EA trem with no good results, the trem has no real effect, the volume knob works just no fx, and the Amp 11 I get nothing dead. But I have success with your hotcake, Keeley 4 Knob and Klon buffer.

Hi, this is first one that I have build, and... IT IS ALIVE! :) But.. Im not sure about Volume pot, I connected third pin to board, second to output on the switch and grounded first pin (then volume pot started to work). Bass knob is working counter clockwise and I get a lot of noise when the Tone knob is kranked.

Anyway, it is working and that makes me happy :) Aqua LEDs are magic :0)Sorry for my English. I try my best.

Thanks. Hooked You say... That might be passable. I have build seven overdrives already and I'm gathering parts for BAJA REAL TUBE DRIVE. I hope its gonna stop eventually. My power supply i running out of juice ;)

I'm a beginner and I'd like to build this stompbox and I'm asking about the way you wired the pots.I agree with the drive and volume pot. But I'm asking for the bass and tone pots.If I follow the same logic on the schematic, Bass 1 & 2 would be connected together where "bass 2" is written on the board, and bass 3 would be connected where "bass 1" is written.The same thing for the tone : tone 1 & 3 would be inverted.I know your wiring works, but I don't understand why it's the correct one.

On this site http://revolutiondeux.blogspot.fr/2012/01/lovepedal-od-eleven.html , there are arrows on pots. I gess they give informations about wiring, but I can't find their signification.

As for the actual pot lugs you connect, wiper(middle lug) is always 2, if you exchange 1 for 3 you just get a "reverse" operation. Sometimes such a thing is desirable (compressors come to mind, at least to me where having "less" is kinda "more" and hence CW).

The tone is wired that way because it's a variable low pass filter, as you increase the resistance in the pot the corner frequency lowers and so cuts out some treble. With the pot wired with lugs 1 and 2 connected to signal in and lug 3 connected to signal out when the pot is turned fully clockwise it will offer the least resistance and so not cut and treble out, as the pot is turned counter clockwise the resistance will increase and so the low pass filter will start to cut out treble which is what we associate with a tone pot. With lugs 1 and 3 swapped this would work in reverse, hope this clears things up.

Thanks guys! Your informations really help me to understand how it works. But just a last question. I hope I'll be clear enough.If I look on the Goran link, I see this symbol for a pot : 1 --/\/\/\/\-- 3. . . . |. . . . | 2(Forget the "." There just here because it's not possible to make more than 2 spaces)If try to apply this exact symbol on the schematic to wire the lug pots, I obtain for bass :

In the same way for tone, I obtain :. ____| 2. | . . |3 ---/\/\/\/\--- 1

But on the veroboard I read :. ____| 2. | . . |1 ---/\/\/\/\--- 3 and you explained me why this one is the right way.

So my question is : how do know which way is the right one to wire the pot? I have the impression the way pots are drawn doesn't matter, either you know how lugs have to be connected, either you try. If the pots doesn't react as it should be when you turn it, you just invert lugs 1 & 3.But I prefer think I'm wrong, there is a logical information on the schematic I miss.

Yeah basically you have to think about what the pot is going to be doing for you and where it is logical to have the minimum and maximum resistances. If the situation requires no resistance fully clockwise, like a tone pot, then it will be wired with 1 + 2 together and 3 as the output. If maximum resistance is required fully clockwise, like a gain pot, then it's usually wired with 1 as input and 2 + 3 as output, in the case of this pedal you can see that gain 2 and 3 are linked via a resistor. Other times a pot is used as a mixer, like a Vol pot, where 1 and 3 are the 'inputs' and 2 is the 'output'. If you want to know more you should check out R G Keen's Secret Life of Pots.

I built that one abd is not working, I built a cot50, an eternity and plexi800 but that one failed, I followed all the layout and no signal but true bypass is working fine, where is the output on the board? please let me know, thanks!

Hey, just finished this one and it is awesome!!! I' think I'll be doing a duel pedal with this and the Deluxe 60, as a few other guys have suggested. Just one note, I swapped 'bass 1' to lug 3 so that the most bass at FCW. Not sure if you all did the same and didn't mention it. Looking at the video, it seem the Bass pot works this way.

Hi - no disrespect intended, but - isn't this really the "OD Eleven"? The "Amp Eleven" has the COT50 built in - with a second stomp switch for on/off of the COT50. The stock behavior, as I understand it, is the AMP on/bypass bypasses the COT50 as well - i.e. the COT50 is subordinate, as opposed to being a discrete, serial effect in the same box. Anyway - tagboard is truly awesome.

I have created a layout inclusive of the COT50 (I am considering putting a SHO in as an alternative boost circuit). I also added a 3PDT toggle switch that switches between the stock behavior (subordinate COT50) and having two discrete effects with the COT50 in front - such that one can run it as a COT50 with the Timmy/Eleven circuit bypassed, an (OD) Eleven w/COT50 bypassed, or a COT50 into AMP-Eleven serially - in the one box. It's not a pretty switch config, but it works very nicely without additional b.s. on board.

It was an Amp 11 that was reversed but what you say could well be true, often when dual effects are reversed if one part of it is well know then it tends to be ignored assuming everyone knows what that circuit is, and they just concentrate on the unknown.

But thanks for the info so everyone knows how to do it if they want the complete thing.

Hi Ivlark,I am not having any luck with this build i'm afraid.Admitedly I am new to this stuff so my tech knowledge is extremely limited.I have built this twice, checking everything over and over and over again, making sure their are no shorts as I go, I have also followed your offboard wiring diagram to the detail and am yet to see any results.All I am getting is a faintly lit led but there is zero signal coming through the pedal.Can you please help as I am totally at a loss as to what to do next????Am happy to post some pics if you need to see what I have done, just let me know what you need and I will publish somewhere online, maybe my instagram might be easiest?Cheers and thanks in advanceJeremy

All good, I just got back from my local Jaycar and the guy down there suggested I hardwire the pedal so it was always on, taking the switch out of the circut, which I did and it now, thankfully works.Sweeeet!!!

Na, the guy was really cool and only too happy to help, he used to build pedals and amps in his younger days so he had some great tips and advice.He also showed me how to wire up the switch which I have now done and added into the circuit, so the pedal is now a complete working unit, I am so stocked with this, it is such a great sounding pedal, better than I expected!

I built this one after giving away my Timmy build and I regret using linear pots.... they just don't make sense IMHO. The range is all screwed up it seems to me.Not sure if this has anything to do with the pots but it also sounds quite "muffled" unless i have the bass almost full and tone closed...

wonder is this is a waste of time to..let me guess..its squeals, hums, whistles or does not work ...you can keep wires short and apart in all of these veros and they whistle and squeal ..this website has to be a joke

rick, i hate to tell you this, but you are completely wrong. there are some effects that will hum, mostly germanium builds, that's how they were back in the day and that's how they are when they're cloned. some effects need shielded wires input and output wires to prevent cross talk or interference. if you're getting humming, whistling, etc. you need to ensure that you're 9V wires are not near the signal path.

you're apparent issues are due to mistakes in your build, not the layouts themselves. the problem is with the one controlling the soldering iron.

as i said to your last rant, if a layout is marked as verified it has been built and works correctly. if you've been trying to build some of them and it doesn't work that means there's an error in your build. i'm sure someone would gladly help you out, if you were to ask. there are plenty of us that have build these effects without issue, just take a look at the forum.

don't blame the layout for your build issues. you haven't asked for help before, so how can anyone help you? don't take your frustration out by blaming the layouts.

Did anyone else have issues with major squealing that would change pitch with the tone knob? I have built a few of these and the last 3 i have done have had the exact same issue. Tried different IC's and even TL072's no fix. Then replaced all caps, all pots, then rebuilt (twice) - still the same issue. Non responsive bass control, extremely sharp/tinny tone, and relatively poor gain. Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

IvIark posted a great off-board wiring layout that includes dual effect wiring. I used it in my Amp Eleven build and it works great. It allows you to engage either/or/both effects with LED indicators for each. Search for "Offboard Wiring" in the site map and you'll find it. It's a fantastic pedal!

Does this circuit reverse the polarity of the signal? Ive been told that if theres an even ammount of gain stages, it doesnt. Is this true? This circuit has 2 stages, right? I also see the input going into the posative side of the op amp. Does that mean its a non inverting circuit?

The Marshall 3005 Lead 12 was a mini-stack with a 12 watt solid state head made in England between 1988 and 1991. People claim it's a gr...

Note

Not all these layouts are verified and some are put together from unverified schematics. So if you have good luck, or bad luck for that matter, then please let me know by dropping a comment in the topic. Thanks.

DMCA statement: Unless otherwise noted, all media used within this site with the exception of linked youtube videos, is the intellectual property of the author, including but not limited to photographs, schematics and interpreted layout diagrams. Manufacturers and product names are mentioned solely for circuit identification, and where applicable their trademarks are the property of their respective owners who are in no way associated or affiliated with the author. No cooperation or endorsement is implied.